


He Looks Like A Riot

by cavlarycaptain



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, Like a really tiny road that's two hours, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 14:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19814101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cavlarycaptain/pseuds/cavlarycaptain
Summary: "Our love is God. Let's go get a slushie." Billy says, holding his hand out to Steve.Steve stares at Billy's hand and then up at Billy. "Billy, we watched Heathers five weeks ago. You've got to stop quoting it at some point."





	He Looks Like A Riot

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from [She's A Riot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYKEVs_DCMk) by the Jungle Giants
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)
> 
> Quick disclaimer : It's not lost on me that Billy Hargrove is a racist bully, but in this, like most of my stories, Billy is non-canonical in the sense that he got the help he needed and worked towards becoming a better person. In no way am I writing off how he actually was in season 2, because let's face it, he was horrible.

Steve’s woken up by a light tapping on his window. He chooses to ignore it at first, blaming it on the wind, a tree branch and proximity. Once it happens again, he opens his eyes and debates if he wants to investigate. His mind is made up for him when he hears a soft thump against the window and realizes this is definitely someone trying to get his attention.

He turns over and looks at his alarm clock, the numbers 3:04 stare back at him in bright red. He hears another thump against the window and he decides to see what, or more, who, has woken him from his slumber. He gets up, wiping his eyes as he walks towards his window. He peeks out and that’s when he sees him, Billy Hargrove.

“What are you doing here, Billy?” Steve asks once he’s opened his window. “It’s 3 a.m., in case you haven’t noticed.” Steve leans upon his window pane, watching for Billy’s next move, waiting. He knows he should be used to it, but there’s always the lingering thought that Billy might actually sleep at night.

“I know babe, but we’ve got to leave now if we want to make the sunrise.” Billy yells up and Steve stares down at him. “Plus we’ve got to get going if we’re gonna make all of our usual stops along the way.” Billy is met with silence and pouts. “Come on, Stevie, don’t leave me hanging.” Steve sighs, tempted to go just to stop Billy from yelling and waking up his parents. 

“Fine, I’ll be right down.” Steve needs his sleep, but Billy needs this distraction more. Steve closes his window, and struggles to find something to put on in the dark, choosing not to subject himself to light before he absolutely needs to. He slips on a t-shirt, steps into a pair of shorts, pulls on his distressed tennis shoes and takes the stairs two at a time.

He walks out of his house and walks up to Billy’s Camaro; Billy’s in the driver’s seat, smiling at Steve. Steve rolls his eyes and gets into the passenger seat, buckling up and resting his arms across his chest. Steve can see out of his peripheral that Billy’s staring at him so he turns and looks at him. 

“You’re buying me breakfast.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Stevie.”Billy says, pulling out of the driveway.

While the drive to Jason’s Diner doesn’t take longer than ten minutes, that doesn’t stop Billy from making both of them listen to the entirety of Iron’s Butterfly “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” three times through in the parking lot. Steve rolls his eyes, but when he centers back on Billy he’s got a lovestruck look in his eyes. Billy goes to start the track over for the fourth time because “it’s just so damn good, Steve” and Steve grabs Billy’s hand.

“Come on, Billy,” Steve begins, unlocking his car door. “We can’t go chasing the sunrise on an empty stomach.”

— 

“I like what you’re doing with your hair.” Billy says, teasing Steve’s bed head after finally getting a good look at it under the fluorescent lights. Steve looks up from his eggs, and glares at Billy.

“Oh yeah? I’m trying this new thing where my boyfriend wakes me up at three in the morning and demands I go to the beach with him; it’s doing wonders for my roots.” Steve says and Billy leans over to him to touch his hair and Steve swats his hand away.

“Demand seems like such a harsh word.” Billy says, leaning back and staring at Steve. He doesn’t say anything, just continues watching Steve push his eggs around his plate. Steve looks up at the sound of Billy’s silence and stares back at him.

“What?”

“I don’t know, it just amazes me that even though it’s 3 a.m. you still manage to look as good as you do.” Billy says and Steve throws his napkin at him. A rose tinted hue has starts to spread across Steve’s face and Billy can’t help but laugh.

“Pay our bill, babe.” Steve says, putting his jacket on. “We’ve got somewhere to be.”

—

“How lucky are we that 7/11 is always open?” Billy says pulling up to the convenience store with the intent to get snacks, despite the fact they’ve just had breakfast. Steve’s sure to remind Billy of this, but apparently Steve’s the one in the dark because “we’ve got to think of the trip back, Steve”.

“About as lucky as those hot dogs that I’ve never seen taken off of the rollers.” Steve retorts, but Billy’s already gotten out the car. He walks over to the passenger door, opens it and outstretches his arm.

"Our love is God. Let's go get a slushie." Billy says, holding his hand out to Steve.

Steve stares at Billy's hand and then up at Billy. "Billy, we watched Heathers five weeks ago.I’m glad you like it so much, but you’ve got to stop quoting it at some point.”

“Is this you saying you don’t want BQ Corn Nuts?” Billy asks Steve as he opens the door for him. 

“Yes, Billy, that’s exactly what I mean. Now, what flavor slushie did you say you want?” Steve asks Billy and Billy smiles.

“I didn’t.”

— 

“We should go on a road trip.” Billy says, breaking the silence as they both look at the sunrise. “We should catch the sunrise in California.”

“You’ll have to wake me up a lot earlier than 3 a.m.” Steve says, entertaining the idea. He sees Billy smirk, but he doesn’t say anything. They’re silent again, taking in the cascade of orange, yellow and red in front of them.

“Dad locked me out.” Billy finally says, and Steve’s been waiting. Billy and Neil tend to be the elephant in the room when Billy shows up outside of Steve’s apartment in the middle of the night. “I got back from Tommy’s party well past curfew, said that if I’m gonna live under his roof I’m gonna follow his rules.” Billy says, tracing patterns into the sand. “If I’m not gonna follow his rules, I’m not gonna be under his roof.”

Steve grabs Billy’s hand but doesn’t say anything. He could tell Billy that he’s always welcomed to crash at his place, but it’ll just be met with the same, “I can’t do that to you Steve”which then leads to Steve saying that he most definitely can because that’s what Steve is for. Billy would give him a smile with watery eyes and say nothing.

Later in the week he’ll be outside Steve’s window again, asking him to catch the sunrise with him.

— 

“Ugh, Steve switch with me.” Billy says, holding his slushie out to Steve. Billy had been adamant about stopping by 7/11 on their way back because he just _needed_ another slushie.

“I asked you Strawberry or Cherry before and you looked at me like I was insane for even “suggesting that you would like Strawberry” so no.” Steve says, shuffling through his closet, looking for his work uniform.

“It’s a complicated question Steve, you can’t just assume I’ll have a go to answer as soon as you ask.” Billy says, laying back on Steve’s unmade bed. 

“Oh so it’s because it’s a complicated question and definitely not because the Cherry one ended up tasting gross?” Steve asks as he puts on his shirt. “Billy?” Steve asks when he doesn’t respond and he turns around to see Billy’s passed out. Steve sighs and smiles as he pulls up the blanket to cover him. 

He takes the slushies off of his nightstand and throws them away. He’ll buy them both another one on his way home from work and he’ll make sure they’re both strawberry.

Steve stares at Billy one more time before checking his watch and seeing that he has to leave right now if he wants to make work on time. He rubs his eyes, and perks himself up. This love will run Steve ragged, but he doesn’t think he minds.

**Author's Note:**

> I watched an interview where Dacre said he wanted Billy's intro song to be In A Gadda Da Vida so I wanted to include it somehow some way. He also said in an AMA that he would pick Strawberry over Cherry so Billy liking Strawberry slushies is confirmed, I don't make the rules. 
> 
> If you haven't yet, feel free to check out my chapter fic [Where Angels Fear to Tread](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19081780/chapters/45331879). It's a 1960s au and I'm having so much fun writing it. It'll probably be the only writing I'll focus on for a little while because it's kind of a slow burn. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this :)
> 
> If you want, feel free to send me requests, prompts or ideas to my [tumblr](https://cavlarycvptain.tumblr.com)


End file.
